Dairy cattle serum and milk factors contributing to the risk of colon and breast cancers

The analysis of published epidemiological data on colon and breast cancer reveals a remarkable concordance for most regions of the world. A low incidence for both cancers has been recorded in Mongolia and Bolivia. Discrepant data, however, have been reported for India, Japan and Korea. In India, the incidence of breast cancer is significantly higher than for colon cancer, in Japan and Korea colon cancer exceeds by far the rate of breast cancer. Here, studies are summarized pointing to a species‐specific risk for colon cancer after consumption of beef originating from dairy cattle. Uptake of dairy products of Bos taurus‐derived milk cattle, particularly consumed at early age, is suggested to represent one of the main risk factors for the development of breast cancer. A recent demonstration of reduced breast cancer rates in individuals with lactose intolerance (Ji et al., Br J Cancer 2014; 112:149‐52) seems to be in line with this interpretation. Species‐specific risk factors for these cancers are compatible with the transmission of different infectious factors transferred via meat or dairy products. Countries with discordant rates of colon and breast cancer reveal a similar discordance between meat and milk product consumption of dairy cattle. The recent isolation of a larger number of novel presumably viral DNAs from serum, meat and dairy products of healthy dairy cows, at least part of them infectious for human cells, deserves further investigation. Systemic infections early in life, resulting in latency and prevention of subsequent infections with the same agent by neutralizing antibodies, would require reconsideration of ongoing prospective studies conducted in the adult population.     

Reproductive factors and cancers of the breast and genital organs--are the different cancer sites similarly affected?

Relationships between reproductive factors and cancer of the breast and genital organs were investigated in a prospective study of 63,090 Norwegian women. During followup from 1961 through 1980 1565 cases of breast cancer, 422 cases of cancer of the corpus uteri, and 471 cases of ovarian cancer were diagnosed. High parity was associated with low risk of cancer of the breast, corpus uteri, and ovary in analyses with adjustment for age at first birth. Age at first birth and age at last birth were positively associated with risk of breast cancer and inversely associated with endometrial cancer, whereas no clear associations were observed with ovarian cancer. Results suggest that the effect of a pregnancy on cancer risk is mediated, at least in part, by different mechanisms for these three sites. Age at menarche was inversely and age at menopause positively related to risk of breast and endometrial cancer, whereas no association was observed for ovarian cancer. In analyses of squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix uteri, an association with reproductive factors was expected from the known relationships with sexual habits. However, this cannot account for the high risk observed in this study in women with early age at first birth.     

Colonoscopic treatment of colon cancers.

Recent advances in endoscopic technology have enabled conservative treatment for patients with carcinoma in situ. The treatment of submucosally invasive carcinomas, or malignant polyps, is still controversial, however. The use of widely advocated histologic criteria, such as poorly differentiated histology (Grade III cancer), level 4 invasion or involved margin status, or lymphatic venous invasion as risk factors for adverse outcome, should be examined by multivariate analysis. Unfavorable histology at the invasive margin, PCNA, MUC-1 expression, and chromosomal abnormalities may be new candidates for prognostic indicators in patients with submucosally invasive carcinoma.     

Measurement of psychological factors associated with genetic testing for hereditary breast,ovarian and colon cancers

Despite numerous individual studies of psychological factors (depression, anxiety, distress) related to genetic testing for inherited cancer syndromes (CGT), there has been no systematic review of the psychological factors are measured among individuals at increased risk for hereditary breast, ovarian, or colon cancer. Our review provides an analysis of psychological factors in studies of CGT and discusses the instruments most commonly used to measure them. We performed a literature search using three major OVID databases from 1993 to January 2003. In the 19 studies that met our inclusion criteria, the most commonly assessed psychological factors were distress, anxiety, and depression. These factors were most often measured by the impact of event scale (IES), the state-trait anxiety inventory (STAI), and the Centers for Epidemiologic Studies and Depression scale (CES-D), respectively. Our results show deficits in the existing body of literature on psychological factors associated with CGT including limited documentation of psychometrics and variability in instrumentation.     

Procoagulant activity of human stomach and colon cancers

Procoagulant activity in extracts from human stomach and colon cancers was examined, using chromogenic substrate S-2222. The activity of direct activator of factor X varied between 6 and 96% of total procoagulant activity of the tested extracts. The direct activator of factor X from stomach cancer was sensitive to heating and was inhibited by phenylmethylsulphonylfluoride and also by iodoacetic acid and HgCl2. Such results lead to the assumption that investigated activator is of enzymatic nature.     

Screening high-risk populations for colon and rectal cancers

Currently, colorectal cancers accounted for the second-highest number of cancer deaths in the US. Hereditary syndromes, strong family history, and inflammatory bowel disease are all conditions that confer predisposition risks. In hereditary syndromes, screening must be more frequent and start earlier. With familial risk, screening should depend on the age of cancer onset and number of affected relatives. For inflammatory bowel disease, surveillance should depend on duration, severity, and extent of colitis.     

Reproductive factors and risk of brain,colon, and other malignancies in Iowa (United States)

The influence of parity on the risk of cancers of the female breast and reproductive organs is well established. However, non-reproductive sites have received less attention. Mail questionnaire data gathered from incident female cases (169 brain; 332 colon; 260 rectal; 145 kidney; and 169 pancreas cancers), and 821 populationbased controls in Iowa (United States) were used to measure the effect of parity and age at first birth on risk of these malignancies. Relative to nulliparous women, ever-parous women were at significantly decreased risk of brain cancer (odds ratio [OR]=0.44, 95 percent confidence interval [CI]=0.3–0.7) and of colon cancer (OR=0.67, CI=0.5–0.97), after adjustment for age and other risk factors. The OR for the other sites did not differ significantly from 1.0. The lower risk of brain cancer among parous women was similar in younger and older age groups, in patients diagnosed with glioblastoma and astrocytoma, and among ever- and never-smokers. The findings for colon cancer are consistent with observations from other studies. In the context of limited laboratory and clinical evidence implicating hormones in brain neoplasia, these findings may suggest a role for hormonal factors in brain cancer etiology. Hormonal factors deserve more detailed future consideration as risk factors in brain cancer.Dr Cantor is with the Environmental Epidemiology Branch, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA. Dr Lynch and Ms Johnson are with the Department of Preventive Medicine and Environmental Health, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA. Address correspondence to Dr Cantor, Environmental Epidemiology Branch, National Cancer Institute, Executive Plaza North, Suite 443, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. Supported in part by United States National Cancer Institute research contracts (NCI-NO1-CP-51026 and NCI NO1-CP-85614) and by a Public Health Service Preventive Oncology Academic Award (5 KO7 CA01181-05).     

Hypergastrinemia in rats with azoxymethane-induced colon cancers

Gastrin has been suggested to be involved in the promotion and progression of colon cancer. Mice colon cancers and colon-carcinoma cell lines are stimulated to grow by gastrin, and gastrin receptors have been found in the majority of human colon-tumor specimens. High serum gastrin levels have been reported in patients with colon polyps and cancers, together with increased ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) activity. Since gastrin stimulates ornithine decarboxylase in colon cancer cells in vitro it has been suggested that increased synthesis of intracellular polyamines is one of the mechanisms activated by the hormone. In order to confirm the presence of hypergastrinemia in colon cancer and to investigate the relationship between plasma gastrin and tumor growth, we used an animal model of colon carcinogenesis that minimizes the possible bias of human studies, related to varying diet, age and environmental factors. We evaluated blood gastrin levels in 35 rats with colon cancer induced by the carcinogen azoxymethane (AOM), and we correlated gastrinemia with tumor proliferation, assessed by thymidine-labeling index (TLI) and ODC activity; 6 animals constituted the control group. Gastrin levels in rats with AOM-induced tumors were significantly higher than in controls. Significantly higher TLI and ODC activity were found in the tumors of hypergastrinemic rats than in neoplasms of animals with normal gastrin levels. Our data provide additional evidence of a role for gastrin as trophic hormone for colon neoplastic cells. © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

左右半结肠癌生物学差异及生存预后

结肠癌根据胚胎发育、解剖和功能细分为左半结肠癌和右半结肠癌,左右半结肠癌的临床病理特征、生物学特点、治疗及预后等方面都存在不同程度的差异,本文通过分析左右半结肠癌的差异,为个体化治疗及预后评价提供新的依据.     

Smoking and other risk factors associated with the stage and age of diagnosis of colon and rectum cancers.

The present study analyzes data on colon and rectum cancer cases from a population-based cancer registry to determine the effect of smoking, alcohol drinking, and family history of cancer on disease characteristics. A total of 771 cases of primary invasive cancer of the colon and 304 cancers of the rectum constitute the study sample. More advanced colon cancer was present in female smokers than in female nonsmokers, while in males there was no smoking effect on stage at diagnosis of colon cancer. For cancer of the rectum, male smokers had a higher frequency of advanced disease than did nonsmokers. Smoking men and women were found to have lower mean ages at diagnosis of both colon and rectum cancer than did nonsmokers (p less than 0.001 and p less than 0.004, respectively). Alcohol drinking remained consistently associated with lower age at diagnosis in both sexes for both colon and rectum cancer (p less than 0.001 and p less than 0.001, respectively). Those cases of rectum cancer having positive family history for colorectal cancer in their first degree relatives had younger age at diagnosis than those having negative family history (p less than 0.005). The age at diagnosis was progressively younger as the number of risk factors increased (p less than 0.001 for colon cancer and p less than 0.003 for cancer of the rectum). Our findings indicate an interaction between exposures to risk factors that are potentially carcinogenic or cocarcinogenic and manifestations of cancer of the colon and rectum.     

Plant foods and differences between colon and rectal cancers.

A case-control study on plant food intake and its role in the risk of colon and rectal cancers was carried out in Montevideo, Uruguay. Four hundred and eighty-four (484) cases of colorectal cancer and 1452 controls were frequency matched on age, sex, residence and urban/rural status. Among cases, 260 patients had colon cancer whereas 224 had rectal tumours. Controls had non-neoplastic conditions. Both cases and controls were interviewed in the four major hospitals in Montevideo shortly after admittance for diagnosis or treatment. The questionnaire included a section on frequency of foods, which included 64 items, in particular, queries on 18 vegetables, 10 fruits and 6 cereal dishes were included. Thus, the amount of plant foods consumed was complete and included the main plant foods in the Uruguayan diet. The analysis showed that rectal cancer displayed inverse associations with total plant foods, total vegetables, cooked vegetables, potatoes and legumes. When data were stratified by tumour site and sex, only men showed a protective effect of plant foods (odds ratio (OR) of rectal cancer for men 0.4, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.2-0.7). In contrast, women with rectal carcinoma were not associated with plant food intake. It can be concluded that plant foods are protective factors for men afflicted with colorectal cancer but that plant food intake is not associated with risk in women. This is, at least in part, due to the high risk associated with bread intake in this gender.     

Intraepithelial mononuclear lymphocytes and progression of stomach and colon cancers

Levels of intraepithelial lymphocytes were assayed in 60 bioptic samples taken from the stomach and colon. The pathologies included non-specific inflammation, benign epithelial proliferation, adenoma with grave epithelial dysplasia and adenocarcinoma. Among the methods used were routine histological staining, direct immunostaining with FITC-conjugated monoclonal antibodies against the human antigen CD4 and antibody Fab-fragment as well as an original procedure for DNA identification. In the colon, adenocarcinoma was distinquishable a high level of intraepithelial CD4(+) lymphocytes while, in the stomach, this was true for tubular adenoma with grave epithelial dysplasia, too.